The Road to Sydney – Dorrigo and the Rainforest

We were on the road just after 8am, heading south from Coffs, then inland along the Waterfall Way with a promise of a delicious breakfast in Bellingen, about 30 minutes away.

Jan said we should stop here, a pretty little place with cafes and an opportunity for retail therapy. We felt lured by the Black Bear Cafe with a tasty sounding menu and a table for three. An order of a bene with bacon and a couple middle eastern eggs on Turkish, one with a side of bacon had us sorted and we sat watching the world go by.

By the time we were done, the shops were open and I found a perfect pair of cream cut offs, just what I’d been looking for, a snip at $50 in the sale.

Moving on, the road climbed above the rolling hills spotted with cows and farms to a higher plateau which was cleared by the settlers in the 30’s for dairy farming and we took pictures at the Griffiths Lookout, some 750m above sea level.

Fortunately, parts of the original rainforest still remains in the Dorrigo National Park where we took a panorama at the skywalk.We then took on the Wonga Walk 6.6km through the rainforest.

It was a shady 20 or so degrees, and we were serenaded by birdsong and very noisy cicadas as we walked …

… but the only wildlife we caught on camera was a lizard!

There was the Crystal Shower Falls where we could walk behind the falls …

… and then the Tristania Falls where a couple of chaps had chosen to sit and picnic right in the middle of the view. We tried the Paddington hard stare, but it didn’t work, so here they are in my pic!

I was more successful with a poser free pic the opposite way!

After our walk, ice cream seemed the order of the day and here in Australia, the most popular make is Gaytime who have brought out their Sanga this year. We’ve seen it advertised all over the place, particularly on buses, not even understanding what sanga meant … but look at the picture and see if you can guess … answer at the bottom of the page! It was caramel flavour and an experience … but maybe not one to be repeated!

We checked into the Dorrigo Heritage Hotel, originally built in 1925 and our immense room was big enough even for the Waltons!

We took a look at the Dangar Falls just up the road, but didn’t feel it was quite warm enough for a swim.

Dinner in the hotel Bistro was excellent and Chris was the board game winner for the evening.

The morning dawned sunny, and we had to pop back to Dangar Falls for another look – just shows what a bit of sun can do!

Did you guess sanga is Aussie for sandwich?